Without a Doubt
by Hypo Prower
Summary: The story of Kakashi and his student as they spend the week at a cabin in the middle of no where. They learn more things about each other than they ever realized...KakaOC. Please read author's note at the beginning! Rated for violence later.
1. Training Mission

**PLEASE READ!!**

**Well, the poll results came in, and it looks like...2 people wanted me to upload this. And two people voted. Well, OK...here it is. This is definately NOT as OC heavy as you may imagine. There's only one OC (the one in the summary, of course) that plays an important role in the story, and you'll get to know her in this fic.**

**OK, well see, the first chapter was just something I whipped up in my spare time about 4 months ago, and I don't consider it my best work at all. So if you're reading and you're like "What the...?", DON'T WORRY. The next chapters are MUCH better, I assure you. I thought about redoing this one, but I couldn't really think of any way to rewrite it. So...here it is.**

**One last thing: Ignore the two OCs in the giant paragraph that explains why Ai is angry. I just kind of threw those two in so Ai would get into fights. I'll stop blabbing now and let you read.**

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Kakashi Hatake walked into the Hokage's office one afternoon in The Hidden Leaf Village. The Hokage, Tsunade, looked up at him as he walked up to her and lay a mission scroll on her desk. "Everything turned out fine," he reported to her. "The treaty successfully made its way to Kusogakure, Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade smiled at the jonin. "Nice work," she told him. "Your pay is on the edge of the desk there."

"Thank you." Kakashi walked over and took the bills that were bunched together and neatly folded them in his wallet. "Anything happen while I was out?"

"Well, you might want to have a word with your student."

Kakashi turned his gaze curiously to the Hokage. "Which one? Naruto?"

"Ai, actually," Tsunade replied. "I about put her on inactive duty this morning. She's been picking fights with many of her classmates…Natsu, Mori…even Guy. I guess she's just in a bad mood, but…"

The jonin sighed wistfully. "I was afraid something like this would happen sometime or another," he answered. "I'd better drop her a visit."

***

Ai Raiokachi sat in a tree branch, fuming. Everything seemed to have gone wrong today…first Guy annoyed her with trying to train her "while her un-youthful sensei was away", and she actually did spar with him, but lost because of her inexperience with taijutsu. Then, after she left, Natsu, her squad mate and rival, kept irritating her and she started fighting with him, but Hayate-sensei had intervened before any real damage came upon her classmate. Finally, after lunch, Mori Nara, who was her bitter rival since their Academy days, started taunting her (again) and Ai threw herself at the genin, but Shizune had stopped her and hauled her butt off to the Hokage.

And to top it all off, Kakashi-sensei wasn't there to train her today.

The chunin sighed irritably. Sure, she was a chunin, and she liked that she now had much more challenge and freedom than when she was a genin. But that didn't mean that she didn't still want to train with Kakashi-sensei. She was aware that she was the only chunin in her squad (Natsu and Cherry, the other kunoichi in her squad, both hadn't been promoted yet), and that usually most chunin tend to break away from their sensei and become the leader of their squads instead, but she couldn't bear the thought of not being trained under her teacher's guidance.

Suddenly, a voice startled her. "So, I hear you've been fighting again."

Ai tried to hide her excitement. Kakashi-sensei was back! She put on a serious expression as she gazed up at him, standing in front of her.

"It's not my fault," the kunoichi snorted, shaking her head. "Guy was being a retard, Natsu is…Natsu, and Mori was making fun of me!"

"That's still no excuse." Kakashi replied, crossing his arms. Then he musingly shut his visible eye. "And I heard you lost to Guy in your taijutsu spar."

Ai sheepishly shifted her gaze to the branch and blushed. "Well, uh…"

"And that's exactly why we're going on a training mission."

Ai looked up at her teacher with a surprised expression plastered on her face. She stood up, her sword banging at her legs. "W-we are?" she repeated, a small smiled creeping onto her face. Kakashi nodded.

"Mm hm. Just you and me. I have a cabin about a half a day away that my ninja team and I used to use a lot on missions. There're spots out there that are perfect for training. I figure that you and I could spend about a week out there working on different techniques. What do you say?"

The kunoichi's face turned crimson again and she nodded. "That sounds great," she replied with a big grin. Kakashi smiled back and hopped off the tree.

"Good," the jonin replied. "I'll give you the rest of the day to pack supplies and make preparations, and then we head out early in the morning."

"Got it."

Kakashi began walking off as Ai hopped off the tree branch as well. She smiled thrillingly in his direction.

_Finally, some quality time with my teacher!_ She thought, spinning around and dashing off to begin packing.

***

The sun was just beginning to rise as Ai came to the Leaf Village gate. Kakashi was already there, book in hand and backpack on shoulder. He shifted his gaze over the well-used pages and realized that Ai was approaching. He snapped the orange book shut and stuck it back in his weapon's roster. "Have everything?" he asked, looking at Ai's dark blue bag. She smiled.

"Yup. Kunai…shurikens…food pills…clothes…everything I'll need for the week." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"You probably won't need all those weapons," he informed her. "The thing we're going to focus on is taijutsu."

The chunin's face dropped. "T-taijutsu…?" she asked alarmingly. "But that's my weakest point!"

"Exactly why we're going to focus on it," he said matter-of-factly. "C'mon, we'd better get moving if we're going to get there before noon."

"Oh! Er, right."

The two shinobi departed just as the sun was fully visible.

***

"And, here it is."

Ai and Kakashi came to a halt in front of a cabin in the middle of a clearing surrounded by trees. Ai smiled brightly. "It's beautiful out here," she commented. "I can see why you stopped here often."

Kakashi nodded. "Yup. Me and…my squad mate used to spar out here a lot." The jonin thumbed to the cabin. "Why don't you and I drop our bags off, and then get started?"

The inside of the cabin was just as nice as the outdoors surrounding it. Ai took off her heavy bag and started carrying it with her hand. She followed her teacher to a room with a two-person bed. The kunoichi blushed.

"Er…n-not a problem!" she stuttered. "I'll just—er—go into this other room…" She hurriedly rushed out of the bedroom across the hall into the other bedroom, which seemed to have been used for a single person. "Cozy," Ai muttered as she dumped her bag off.

Down the hall a bit was a well-furnished bathroom, with a nice shower and sink. There was also a kitchen nearby with a fridge. Ai wondered if there was still any food in it. _Speaking of food, I'm pretty hungry, _she thought wistfully.

"Should we eat lunch first?"

Kakashi's voice startled the chunin. She jumped slightly but wheeled around to face him. "Oh! Uh, not if you want to get started first," she replied hastily. "With, y'know, my training."

"Hm? Oh, no. We can eat first." Kakashi casually strode over to the fridge and opened it. "What do you want?"

Ai was surprised to see that the fridge with well stocked with different types of food, both fresh and canned. "Wouldn't this stuff go bad?" she asked. Kakashi shook his head.

"I come down here every once and a while and restock supplies. You never know when you're going to need them, right?" Ai smirked.

"Are you planning on going on the lamb, sensei?"

Kakashi playfully shoved his student. "Oh, sure, and I'm taking Iruka with me. We're going to become partners in crime and join the Akatsuki."

After eating their lunch, the two walked out into the clearing. Ai slipped off her orange jacket and tied it around her waist, revealing her white shirt with the Leaf symbol on it. "Ready," she told Kakashi, who was already distracted with reading his book. He looked up at the kunoichi and stuck his book back in his weapon's roster.

"OK, good. This first thing we're going to do is test your current abilities." Kakashi crouched down and stuck out his hand. "Now, come at me."

Ai hesitated for a moment. Come at…Kakashi? That was against her morals. Then again, it was just training. She took a deep breath and charged at her teacher.

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**And, yes, there it is: the first chapter. I'm a little nervous to say this but...please review. I need three reviewers in order to continue this. I've already got the entire thing written, but I'm going to go slowly and wait for reviews to see if I should continue or delete. FLAMES ARE WELCOME!! Heck, bash me into oblivion, I don't care! I need to know how I'm doing with this.**

**Again, the next chapters are MUCH BETTER. So if you want to let them see the light of day...REVIEW!**


	2. Sickness

**A/N: You know what? Forget reviews. I'm going to upload this anyway. And to whoever voted on my poll...I'm very angry right now.**

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"Whew!"

Ai slumped down next to a tree and sat in the shade, panting. She had never known that taijutsu would be such a chore to learn. Kakashi was also tired and drenched as he collapsed next to her. "N-nice work," he told her in between pants. Ai smirked.

"Yeah, you too," she replied. She started coughing suddenly, trying to take breaths in quick, short bursts between coughs. Finally she sighed and leaned back. Kakashi studied her warily.

"That sounds like a nasty cough," he commented. Ai rolled her eyes.

"Meh, I can deal with it."

The two shinobi sat under the tree for a few moments longer, enjoying the break from the sweltering sun and hard work. Finally, Kakashi stood up and held out his hand to Ai. She gratefully took it and hauled herself up, only to collide awkwardly with her teacher's chest. "Er, sorry," she muttered, and removed herself. "Ready for more?"

Kakashi looked up at the sun, and judged by the position that it was about 4 o' clock. "Let's go one more hour," he said. The two made their way back into the clearing.

"OK, so you've mastered different types of combos with punching and kicking," Kakashi said. Ai glowered under his praise. "So, let's try tackling."

The chunin frowned slightly. Uh oh. Tackling. That could get pretty awkward. Kakashi noticed the change in her expression, "Something wrong?" he asked. Ai shook her head, not wanting to reveal anything to her teacher.

"Um, no," she said hastily. With that, she crouched into position. "Mind showing me the right form?"

"Of course," Kakashi replied, and ducked into position himself. "So, in order to catch the enemy off-guard, you should make tackles swift and powerful. You'll need to use pure brute strength in order to tackle right. Like this."

Ai was taken slightly off guard as Kakashi started charging for her. He slowed down before he ran into his student but tackled her anyway. The two collided in a heap on the ground. Ai couldn't stop herself from laughing, even though it kind of hurt.

Kakashi studied her expression curiously. "That didn't hurt?" he asked, sitting up. Ai giggled and nodded her head.

"Well of course it hurt, sensei," she replied. "It was just kind of a rush…"

Ai looked up and realized that Kakashi was staring at her strangely. She sat up as well, "Something the matter?"

"N-no," Kakashi said. Then he stood up. Ai copied him. "How about we turn in a little early?" he suggested. Ai grinned and nodded.

"OK. I'll cook us dinner, alright?" Kakashi furrowed his brow.

"Doesn't that ever get old?"

"Nah, I'm used to it."

"Well, alright, then."

The two walked side-by-side back to the cabin.

***

Ai sighed contentedly as the warm water ran over her skin. The shower felt even better after she had been hard at work all day. It seemed like nothing could ruin her day: her belly was full, she felt stronger, and, best of all, she was alone with Kakashi for a week.

Suddenly, she felt a burst in her throat. She began coughing, but started finding it hard to take breaths.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was in the bedroom, leaning against the wall reading his book. He heard noises start to come from the bathroom, but dismissed them. It was when they started to get louder that he identified them as coughs. The jonin stopped reading and listened for a moment, trying to listen for Ai.

It was when he heard "Kakashi-sensei!" that he forgot his book and pelted to the bathroom.

The jonin remembered his etiquette in his hurrying haste and knocked on the bathroom door. "Ai? Are you OK?" he demanded, tripping over his own words. Ai kept on coughing, but managed to choke out something about coming in. Gulping, Kakashi opened the door and gazed inside.

Ai was dripping wet, but wrapped loosely in a towel when Kakashi burst in. She was nearly choking from coughing. Kakashi gasped and tried to compose himself. "Ai, are you choking? What is it?" The chunin opened one eye.

"My bag…there's…an inhaler…" she mumbled through coughs. Kakashi nodded quickly and dashed to Ai's room. He dug through her bag, blushing a few times at the contents, but finally found the inhaler she had mentioned. He threw the bag down and ran back to the bathroom, giving his student the medicine. Ai quickly used it, sighing in relief after two puffs.

She breathed in and out very slowly for a few moments, then looked up at Kakashi. "Thank you," she told him. Kakashi stared longingly into her deep blue eyes.

Suddenly, both remembered that she was dripping wet and only had a towel covering her. Ai nearly screamed as she jumped back into the shower, covering herself with the curtain. "Sorry!" she cried.

"Er, right," Kakashi said quickly and paced out of the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

***

"Hey."

Kakashi looked up from his book to see Ai, dressed in her pajamas. She smiled at him. "You saved my life," she said softly. Kakashi stood up and walked over to her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I had to do that, you know," he answered. "Sorry I um…walked in on you."

Ai chuckled. "Hey, don't worry about it," she grinned. "I couldn't control when I had that attack. No reason to be sorry."

Kakashi ruffled his student's hair and gazed out the window. "It's getting dark," he said. "Maybe we should both turn in for the night."

"Yeah," Ai nodded. "Good night, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good night."

With that, Ai walked out of the bedroom and into her own.


	3. A Sleeping Problem

**Hey! A review! Thanks, Kiri! It inspired me to upload chapter 3...enjoy.**

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When Ai slept, she slept heavy. She always had, and always would. Once, there was a storm in the night and a tree fell right in her back yard. Guy woke up and started freaking out, but Ai had slept through the whole thing. So when she started coughing in the night, she hardly even woke up.

The coughing continued, just as it had before in the shower. She tried breathing in and out, but she was too drowsy to even think.

Vaguely, the chunin remembered someone holding onto her and putting the inhaler in her mouth. She breathed in when the fumes entered her mouth only by pure instinct, as she had done the same thing 5 times before. Then she felt someone grip her hand and lead her out of her bedroom.

"Where are we going?" she mumbled through her drowsiness.

"You're sleeping with me tonight," the voice told her, which seemed awfully familiar. "I'm not going to have you have a coughing attack every five hours and eventually pass out."

The hand led her to a bed, and Ai quickly crawled into it and fell asleep.

***

The next morning, Ai yawned and stretched as she started to roll out of bed. Then she froze as she felt a large figure sleeping beside her. She shot up and looked at the face, and realized it was Kakashi's. "Oh crap," she muttered as she tried to remember what happened last night.

Suddenly, Kakashi stirred beside her. He opened both eyes, as he had taken off his headband and both eyes were now visible. The jonin looked over at the tense figure of Ai next to him, who was quivering like a leaf on a tree.

"What the heck happened?" she whispered cautiously.

Kakashi furrowed his brow as he studied her. "You don't remember?" he asked. "You had another attack last night and were too drowsy to use your inhaler. I woke up and made you sleep with me, so if you had another attack I could get your inhaler to you."

Ai couldn't explain the relief she felt when he said that. She sighed and rolled onto the wood floor. Kakashi stuck up an eyebrow, but said nothing.

***

"Ai, are you…sick?"

Ai blinked in surprise at her teacher's words. The two were taking a break from training, and were sitting under the same tree as yesterday. The chunin shrugged.

"Depends on your definition of sick," she replied. "Why do you ask?"

Kakashi fidgeted for a moment with a blade of grass. "Well, you had that inhaler that I've never seen before…you don't have…asthma, do you?"

Part of the jonin didn't want to know. If Ai had asthma, then he had to come to the conclusion that she couldn't work as hard or train as much as her fellow shinobi. That didn't make sense, though; back when she was a genin, the two would spar occasionally and Ai wouldn't start coughing at all.

"I don't have asthma," Ai replied with a small smile. "I just got over a bout of pneumonia, and Lady Tsunade gave me that inhaler in case I started to cough some more." She grinned, "Guess I needed it."

Kakashi sighed in relief. "Alright, good. Keep the inhaler with you, though, OK? I don't want to work you too hard and then you pass out on me." The jonin smirked, "I'm too nervous to handle that."

Ai nodded, chuckling. "OK, sensei." She hopped up and offered her teacher a hand. "Ready for more?"

"Of course." Kakashi hauled himself up with Ai's hand, and the two walked back to the clearing.

***

Ai's foot attempted to slam down on Kakashi's shoulder, but the jonin grabbed her foot and tossed her off. The chunin broke her fall with a back flip and braced herself as Kakashi began to charge towards her. She grinned and slid quickly around him to his back, where she delivered a round-house kick. Kakashi flew forward but whipped around back towards his student and pelted towards her, drawing a kunai.

Ai saw the kunai and drew her sword that was strapped on her back. Blade met blade. Kakashi grimaced but grinned soon after. "You have to remember, Ai," he stated. "I'm the one that taught you how to use that thing!" The jonin used the metal plates on his gloves to slide the back of his hand down the sword and caught Ai completely off guard as he made it fly right out of her hands. Instinctively, Kakashi grabbed it in mid-air and held it out in front of him.

Ai's nose was right on the edge of the sword. A sliver of sweat slunk down her neck. "O-OK, time out…?"

Kakashi laughed out loud and handed Ai her blade back. "Fine, you win," he conceived. Ai snickered as well as she accepted the sword and placed it back in its holster.

"That was great," she said warmly. Kakashi smiled and put his hand on Ai's shoulder.

"You've made lots of progress." He sighed contentedly and looked up at the sun. It was midday. "How about lunch?" he suggested.

Ai nodded. She started walking towards the cabin, but Kakashi stopped her. "I think there's a restaurant about a mile away," he told her. "Why don't we go there? My treat."

"OK," Ai replied, pulling her orange jacket back onto her arms. She winked slyly. "Race ya."

"Only if I get a head start!" Kakashi teased, and he took off sprinting. Ai growled and clenched her teeth together.

"THAT'S CHEATING!" she screamed and ran after her teacher, giggling all the way.

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**BUM BUM BUM! What will happen when Kakashi and Ai have lunch? Well, I know...but how long will it be before YOU know?**


	4. Lunch and a Fight

**Hey, this thing is getting reviews! Who wouldn't thunk it? Thanks for all your support, guys. Enjoy chapter 4.**

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Kakashi panted and removed his headband momentarily, wiping the sweat that had accumulated under it. He glanced over his shoulder to see the figure of Ai finally topping the horizon. She had forgotten her quick pace and traded it for a slow, plodding walk that seemed to require effort with every step.

Ai finally took one final step and placed her palm against the restaurant building. Kakashi leaned casually on the building next to her, reading his book calmly. Ai growled and glared in his direction. "That was totally cheating," she informed him.

Kakashi chuckled and ruffled her head, which was soaked. "Well, whatever. Let's just eat, OK?"

Ai huffed and tried to take another step, but she nearly collapsed. Kakashi caught her before she could fall. "That may be tougher than I thought," she joked. Kakashi steadied her with his hand, and kept his hand on her shoulder.

"I'll keep you from falling," he promised, and the two walked inside the building.

Once inside, they seated themselves at a table. Ai sighed and slammed her head down on the table, letting the coolness of it reach her cheek and hopefully spread to the rest of her body. Kakashi sighed and snickered at the same time.

"Um, you might want to put your head up," he told her softly. "You're getting stares."

"Screw that," Ai mumbled and breathed in and out evenly, trying to catch her breath.

There was silence for a minute, and Kakashi began to wonder if making her dash at full speed for a mile straight was such a good idea. When the waitress came to take their orders, Ai only ordered water.

After the waitress was gone, Kakashi reached over the table and felt Ai's face. "Are you OK?" he asked. "Are you sick?" Her face felt hot, but it was only because she had worked so hard today.

"Fine," she replied, and weakly lifted her head.

Behind her, Ai heard someone snicker. "Oooh, looks like that chick's got some feisty attitude! Yow!"

The chunin paused a moment before slowly turning around. Behind her were two men, both looked to be in their early twenties. Ai growled, "You weren't talking about me, were you?"

One of the men grinned foxily. "Hey man, looks like you were right! Looks like she's pretty hot!"

Ai's regularly brilliant blue eyes had turned hard. She leapt out of her chair, knocking it down on the way. She dashed over to the table and grabbed the man's shirt collar. "If you have something to say to me, I suggest you say it to my face!" she spat. The man winced as spit flew on his face, but smiled after a moment.

"I think you heard me OK. Why don't you come back to our place?"

"Ai."

Kakashi spoke sternly behind his student. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Put him _down_."

Ai barred her teeth and gripped tighter to the man's shirt collar. "NOW." Kakashi said more sternly, pulling out a kunai and twirling it on his finger in case things got ugly. Ai glared into the man's brown eyes, which were full of cockiness.

"Mind your own business," she told him, and shoved him back into his seat. Kakashi replaced the kunai in his weapon's roster and loosened his grip on Ai. Wordlessly, she turned around and was about to sit down when she heard the man cat call.

"That's IT!"

Ai whirled around and was about to leap at the man, but before she could, Kakashi restrained her with both arms. "Ai, he isn't worth it," he said sternly. Then he fixed his onyx gaze on the man. He stopped grinning and seemed to be lost in a trance. "I suggest you quit unless you want to get hurt." Ai struggled under Kakashi's grip, but she knew it was useless.

"He isn't worth it," he said softly to his student. "Let's just eat and get out of here."

Ai growled, but said nothing else. Kakashi cautiously let her go, and the two walked back to their table. The man behind them started muttering nervously to his friend, and they hopped out of their seats and high-tailed it out of the restaurant.

The waitress had brought the drinks by that time, and wrote down Kakashi's order. He asked politely if Ai could have a few minutes to decide on what to eat, and the waitress agreed, lost by Kakashi's charm. Ai sipped her water and breathed deeply, trying to cool off and stop quivering.

"Sorry," she muttered as she flipped through the menu. Kakashi shook his head.

"No, it's OK, I don't blame you for what you did," he replied. "But you have to learn which battles to pick. That man wasn't even a ninja; he wasn't worth it. And I think you're going to find that lots of people are going to try to pull the same thing that those two did. Some are worth fighting, and some aren't."

Ai didn't reply as she stared at a page in the menu. Kakashi waited for a reply, but didn't get one. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked.

"I'm getting ramen," she said absently, then closed the menu. She looked up at her teacher's visible eye and sighed. Her eyes turned glassy and she bowed her head, starting to sob. This caught Kakashi off guard.

"Ai? What is it? What's wrong?" The jonin started to turn frantic; he was never good at this sort of thing. Ai swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I…I didn't want to attack that guy…" she sobbed quietly. "He was just…I just can't stand those sorts of guys…I can't believe that I…I could have k-killed…"

Kakashi frowned and stood up. He walked over to Ai and sighed, placing his hand gently on her shoulder again. "It's OK," he said. "I know why you went at him. And in a way, it was good. It's good that you know how to defend yourself. Just pay a little more mind next time, OK?..."

The jonin stopped talking as he suddenly felt Ai wrap herself around his waist. His heart started racing as he looked down at her. She smiled through her tears and winked at him. "Alright, I get what you're saying." Then she looked over near the back of the restaurant and saw the waitress approaching their table. "Oh, here comes your food," she said. "Guess I need to order mine, too."

Kakashi looked bewildered as he sat down. Ai cheekily told the waitress what she wanted to eat.

Eesh. Talk about mood swings.


	5. Anacondas and Flashbacks

**Well, this story is coming along rather smoothly. Here is chapter 5. Oh, and yeah, there are some flashbacks. I have no idea when they're supposed to take place...probably before Kakashi was promoted to jonin (because that's when they went on the mission during Kakashi Gaiden). Thanks for all the support, guys. I really appreciate it.**

**_Flashbacks in italics_**

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Kakashi looked up from his book to see Ai walking out the door to the cabin. It was around 7 o' clock at night and the two had turned in for the night. The jonin stuck up and eyebrow and spoke, "Where are you going?"

"For a walk," Ai replied with a smile as she opened the door. "Want to come?"

Kakashi got up and held the door for his student, then walked out himself. Ai led the way past the clearing and past the tree where they rested on breaks. She and Kakashi walked a little more through the thick forest until a small clearing appeared ahead. Ai ran forward and gasped in amazement when she arrived.

In the clearing was a small pond, which was being supplied by a small waterfall above it. The trees around it had roots so developed that they could easily be used as chairs. Ai's mouth hung agape, then she shut it in spite of herself.

Kakashi seemed to be lost in thought as he looked at the clearing. Memories started flooding back to him…

"_Hey, Minato-sensei, why don't you join us?" Obito called from the pool. Rin giggled as she stood at Obito's side. Minato smirked and put a hand on his hip._

"_Well, alright, that doesn't sound so bad," he replied. Then he turned to Kakashi, who was sitting on a tree root reading a book. Minato frowned. "Hey, Kakashi, why don't you swim with us?"_

_Kakashi turned a page before looking up at his teacher. "I'm not taking my mask off," he stated calmly. Obito growled and pointed as his teammate._

"_Stupid! Look, sooner or later we're gonna find out what's under that stupid mask, so you might as well just take it off now!"_

_Rin blushed. "Obito, maybe he's embarrassed by what's under it."_

_Obito snorted. "It's just his face. He was born with it and there's nothing he can do about it, so if he's ugly he might as well just learn to accept it and take off that dumb mask."_

_Minato rolled his eyes. "Forget it Obito." Then he turned to his masked student, who was still reading. "If you change your mind, Kakashi, we're not going to laugh at your face."_

_Kakashi wordlessly acknowledged his teacher as he turned the page._

"Um…Kakashi-sensei? Hey, sensei, woo hoo," Ai stated, snapping Kakashi out of his trance. He smiled at her.

"Oh, yeah, I remember this clearing. Me and my team used to hang out here." Ai grinned and walked over to the pool, where she swished her fingers on the surface.

"It's beautiful…" she marveled. Suddenly, Kakashi yanked a kunai out of his weapon's roster and shoved Ai behind his back. Ai yelped in surprise, but Kakashi pressed her tighter against his back.

"Don't…move…" he whispered. Ai tried to see what was happening, but she couldn't because every sudden movement she made, Kakashi pressed her tighter against him.

"What's going on?!" she demanded in a whisper after she gave up trying to figure out herself. Kakashi glanced at her, his heart pounding.

"Apparently one of our friends of nature made his home here," he replied, his eyes locked on the target in front of him. "It's an anaconda."

The enormous snake had seen Kakashi and Ai, but hadn't tried to move towards them. Instead, it slithered protectively near the hole in the tree that it had come out of. Kakashi tried to back away, but tripped over Ai in the process.

"Sorry," the jonin muttered. "When I say 'go', we're both going to walk away very slowly. Got it?"

Ai nodded, too nervous to say anything.

"Go!"

Ai removed herself from behind her teacher and started to walk away slowly. Kakashi followed her with his back against hers, keeping an eye on the anaconda. It hissed, but didn't pursue. The two walked back-to-back like this until they were about 100 feet from their original position, then sighed with relief when the danger was over.

Kakashi heaved, then nearly collapsed, weak with relief. "Sorry I shoved you so suddenly," he said to Ai. "I didn't want the snake to see you."

"It's OK," Ai replied. "L-let's just go back to the cabin, OK?"

The two did just that.

***

"What do you think you're doing?"

Ai stopped after Kakashi spoke sternly to her. She was about to climb into her own bed. Quizzically, she turned to face him.

"Um, going to sleep, I thought," she answered. Kakashi's expression was not angry, but it was stern.

"Not in that bed you aren't," he replied. "Last night you had two attacks. There was one that woke me up, and one after you had gone to sleep in my bed. I'm not going to have you pass out from lack of oxygen because you sleep through anything."

Ai shivered, nervous. "Y-you want me to sleep with you again?" she asked. Kakashi sighed and nodded.

"As much as I thought I would never say this…Ai, you're sleeping with me."

Ai burst out laughing almost as soon as the words left Kakashi's mouth. The jonin chuckled, "Immature, much?"

"Yeah," Ai giggled. Then she frowned. "But won't it be kind of…awkward?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "It'd be even more awkward for me to keep running into your room to force meds down your throat three times a night. OK?"

Ai smiled at her teacher's onyx gaze. "Well, OK," she said, then silently climbed into her teacher's bed. "Good night," she muttered before falling asleep.

***

Ai woke up about the same time she did every night to use the bathroom. She yawned as she opened her eyes, and much to her horror, she was gripping tightly onto Kakashi's chest. The chunin untangled her arms from his waist and jumped back, nearly toppling over as she did so.

Landing neatly on the ground, she stared at Kakashi. He hadn't seemed to wake up from the incident, so she sighed to compose herself and walked to the bathroom.

When Ai was gone, Kakashi suddenly felt the presence of his student missing. He opened his good eye and looked around. Oh, no. There weren't any rogue ninja in the area, were there?

He was about to get up when he heard the toilet flush. Sighing with relief, he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.


	6. Different Kind of Training

**Yeah, just on a personal note: This is my favorite chapter. Kakashi is a little OOC at the beginning...but then again, I guess he's a little OOC throughout the entire story.**

**The next chapter will be the last one. Don't worry, though, there's a sequel. And if you really want to see it...review!**

* * *

Kakashi woke up just as the sun was peaking over the horizon. He rubbed his eyes and was about to get up when he felt something gripping him. He looked down. His heart nearly skipped a beat when he saw Ai cuddling into his chest. Kakashi's gaze swept up and down his torso as he tried to figure out what to do.

Suddenly, Ai began stirring, probably from him waking up. She opened one brilliant blue eye and realized what she was doing. She hurriedly untangled her hands, just like last night, and stared into Kakashi's eyes with fear.

"Sensei, I-I…I didn't do this on purpose…" she stuttered, feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks. Kakashi studied her face for a moment before breaking into a grin and start laughing. Ai glared unbelievably at his expression.

"Don't worry about it!" Kakashi affirmed. "That's what happens whenever I drag you to my bed. You're probably used to holding onto your other pillow when you sleep, right?"

Ai pondered a moment and realized that she, in fact, did hug another pillow when she slept to create a comfortable position. Kakashi grinned. "See? No worries." Ai smiled and climbed out of bed, allowing her teacher to do the same.

What Ai didn't realize, though, was that Kakashi was happier than he had ever been.

***

"OK, ready?"

Kakashi stood in a ready position as he waited for his student to begin their spar. Ai tried not to focus on Kakashi's face and instead focus on his torso, where she would be attacking.

Suddenly, the chunin was taken by surprise as she started hacking. Kakashi lowered his arms and walked slightly closer. "Need your inhaler?" he asked anxiously, raising his eyebrows. Ai waved him off as she tried to stop coughing.

"N-no, I'm good," she choked out. Kakashi crossed his arms.

"Ai, I don't want you over-working yourself. Do we need to take a break?"

"NO!" Ai repeated, this time more sternly. She cleared her throat and didn't wait for Kakashi to give the OK. She started charging for the jonin, determined to show him that she didn't need to rely on medicine to let her practice her ninja techniques.

Ignoring her throat, which felt like it was about to explode, she tried to tackle Kakashi. He skidded backwards and then ran forward, colliding with Ai. This stopped her in her tracks. Finally, she couldn't take anymore. She started coughing like never before. Kakashi alarmingly grasped her elbows as she fell on her knees.

"Ai! Ai? Stay with me, Ai!" Kakashi gracefully swooped her up in his arms and dashed to the cabin. He laid Ai on the bed and grabbed her inhaler from the end table that sat next to the bed. He dropped it twice because his hands were shaking so badly. All the while, Ai felt like she was hacking up a lung.

Shakily, Kakashi inserted the end of the inhaler into Ai's mouth. "Ready?" he asked. Ai nodded and Kakashi puffed the mist into her mouth as she breathed in.

Slowly, Ai stopped coughing and breathed in evenly and calmly. Kakashi felt weak with relief and stopped quivering from the adrenaline that was rushing through his veins. Ai blinked once and gazed into his eyes.

Kakashi sat on the bed next to his student and grasped both her shoulders tightly with his gloved hands. "Ai," he started. "Please…never scare me like that again. I'd thought I'd lost you…" Ai shivered under Kakashi's fierce gaze. "I'm begging you…if you need your inhaler…if you need to take a break…please tell me. I couldn't stand to lose you…"

Ai grabbed Kakashi's arms and gently pried them off her shoulders. "OK," she said gently, trying to calm her teacher down. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was trying to prove…that I'm stubborn, I guess."

"Just like me," Kakashi replied, then sighed. "Alright. Do you feel OK? Do you want to go at it some more?"

"S-sure…" she answered, then smiled. "Seriously. I'm fine."

"Glad to hear it." Kakashi grinned, and the two walked back out to the clearing.

***

Ai stood face-to-face with Kakashi in the clearing. She looked puzzled. "We aren't going to spar?" she asked. Kakashi shook his head.

"Nah, you've had enough taijutsu training for now. We're going to focus on something else."

"What's that?" Ai asked.

Kakashi sighed, not really wanting to bring the incident up, but couldn't find any way around it. "OK, remember when we were in the restaurant? How those two guys…y'know…"

Ai's pupils dilated as she remembered the previous day. "Oh, yeah, I know…"

"Yeah…" Kakashi trailed off, making for a momentarily awkward silence. "So, anyway! I just wanted to try a different kind of training. Like when to fight and when to leave."

Ai's blue eyes were filled with wonder as she brushed a strand of lighting-blonde hair out of her face. "That sounds great and all, but how exactly are we going to train in that area?"

Kakashi sighed deeply. "I'm going to use my doppelgangers and create a transformation jutsu. I'm going to…imitate different people that you may encounter in some situations similar to yesterday's incident." Ai was still puzzled, but Kakashi smirked.

"Don't worry, you'll catch on," he assured. He effortlessly summoned shadow clone and did a few hand signs before the clone turned into an unfamiliar man. Ai studied him absently as Kakashi went to stand next to her.

Suddenly, the clone glared at Ai and grinned. "Hey baby. What's shakin'? Oh wait—I can see from here!"

Ai was suddenly outraged at the clone. She growled and opened her mouth to speak. Kakashi realized he couldn't stop her, so he hastily slapped his gloved hand over her mouth when she spoke. "You mmmmf! Do you really mmmmmf think you can mmmf talk to me like an mmmf mmmmmf?!"

Kakashi, in spite of himself, chuckled slightly. "Well that went well," he noted. The man disappeared in a poof of smoke. Ai growled and quivered angrily as Kakashi steadied her with his hand. "Look, I know this isn't going to be easy for someone like you, who's far from shy. Just concentrate on biting your tongue, OK? Remember: if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all."

"Yeah, alright, alright," Ai replied, more focused this time to excel.

Kakashi nodded and created another doppelganger, this time of an older woman. She wore a cocky expression and when she looked at Ai, she snorted.

"Geez, that outfit showy enough? You won't last long in that, little girl."

As much as Ai wanted to throttle the clone, she stopped herself. She clenched her hands into fists and breathed in and out, trying to calm herself. Kakashi placed his hand on her shoulder, which he seemed to be doing a lot of lately. This calmed her some.

"You OK?" Kakashi asked cautiously. Ai nodded.

"Yup. Throw another one at me."

Almost reluctantly, Kakashi obliged. The woman transformed into a Mist ninja. He grinned cheekily at Ai as he approached her, then he grabbed Ai's hand. "C'mon, babe, I think that it's time we took this back to my place."

Ai yanked her hand out of the Mist ninja's palm and clenched it into a fist. "Hope I'm supposed to kill this one, sensei, because that's what I'm doin'!" Ai called to Kakashi as she tackled the clone and started beating it up.

Kakashi watched with wonder as Ai began beating up the clone and finally stopped when it disappeared with a poof. Ai smiled triumphantly and looked over at the jonin. "How was that?" she asked.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile widely.

"Great. Let's take a break."

* * *

**Um....I'm a little scared to ask, but...review...?**


	7. Running out of Time

**Well guys, this is the last chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I've decided to put up the sequel! The first chapter should be up tomorrow.**

**Oh, here's just a spoiler: I'm far from running short of ideas, because the fourth one is like...half way done. So yeah.**

* * *

Ai gazed out the window into the night sky. She frowned as the full moon rose higher in the sky, and owls began cooing around the surrounding forest.

"Is something the matter?"

Kakashi's voice took Ai by surprise. She gasped lightly, then spun around and smiled grimly. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just…" she dipped her head and studied her feet. "It's already been three days. And tomorrow the week will be half over…"

The feelings that built up in Kakashi couldn't be explained. "You mean…you don't want to leave…?" he suggested, trying to figure his student's sudden emotions out. Ai smiled a very small smile and gazed up into Kakashi's onyx eyes.

"It's not that I don't want to leave," she explained. "It's that…I like spending time with you." She turned back to the window, "And out here, it's like our own little adventure. You know what I mean?"

Ai continued to gaze out the window as Kakashi digested her words. He'd always known that she had taken a liking to him, but he never expected her to not want to leave his side.

"Ai…" he began. Before he could continue, Ai turned to face him.

"But please don't take this the wrong way, sensei," she said. "I…don't want to marry you, or anything drastic like that. I guess we have…as much as I hate to admit it…a Guy-Lee relationship."

Kakashi tried to take in her new words. A Guy-Lee relationship? Well, he obviously didn't want something like his relationship with Sasuke, which was less than friendly.

As he delve deeper into his thoughts, Ai gave him a smile and retreated to her bedroom. It was about 30 seconds later that Kakashi had realized that she had gone to her own bedroom. "Shoot," he muttered and walked to her bedroom, gently guiding her to his bed.

Nope. There wouldn't be anyone passing out tonight.

***

Ai awoke the next morning to someone rifling around with something. She opened her eyes and saw Kakashi crouched down on the wooden floor, packing his stuff up into his bag. Ai furrowed her brow, confused as to why he was packing.

"Uh…Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi paused and turned around, smiling slightly at Ai's confused expression. "Morning," he replied, and continued packing.

Ai slid out of bed and walked over to her teacher. "OK, I guess a better question would be exactly why you're packing your stuff when we're staying here three more days."

Kakashi sighed. He knew this news was going to upset her. "We…aren't staying three more days. We're leaving today." Ai gasped and edged backwards.

"I-it's because of what I said last night, right?" she demanded. "I didn't mean for you to take that the wrong way, I just…"

Kakashi shook his head and stood up, walking over to his student and placing his comforting hand on her shoulder. "We aren't leaving because of you," he informed. "Early this morning I got a messenger bird that said that I was needed back at Konoha. Apparently there's some sort of trouble."

Ai's lower lip quivered slightly. "So…we have to…"

"Yes," Kakashi finished for her. "Immediately."

The chunin's blue eyes became dull with disappointment and understanding. "I'll go pack my things," she said, and walked out of the bedroom and into her own.

***

After traveling from tree to tree for about an hour and a half, Kakashi determined that they were about 2/3 of the way to Konoha. The journey had been wordless, which made things very awkward for both Kakashi and Ai.

In an attempt to strike up a conversation, Kakashi began speaking. "Um, you remembered your inhaler, right?" he asked. Ai half-heartedly nodded and pulled the white L-shaped container out of her weapon's roster. Kakashi sighed with relief, realizing that now would be a lousy time to ask if she remembered everything, considering they were almost back to Konoha.

"Hey…Ai, please don't be disappointed," Kakashi said to his student. "We're about 20 minutes away from Konoha. Once we're there, it's not like we can't ever have outside contact again. We'll still train together…like always."

This put a slight smile on Ai's face. "Yeah, sure," she replied, but Kakashi could detect an excited voice amidst the depressed act.

***

Kakashi and Ai arrived at the red Konoha gate soon enough. Kakashi was about to walk in when he heard Ai's voice. "Hey, wait sensei!" she called. He curiously paused as his student ran up to him and smiled. "Be careful on your mission, OK?" she grinned, and gave him a big hug. Then , once done, she waved 'bye' over her shoulder and ran off towards her house.

Kakashi glared off with a bewildered expression in her direction, blushing. Oh, yes. She was still the same Ai Raiokachi he had always known.

_End…for now._


End file.
